Pope Benedict XVI on Education

This article from Il Corriere Della Sera reports on a speech that the Pope gave to a number of young (under 40…that’s young, right?) university professors at El Escorial Monastery near Madrid. In the speech, the Pope spoke against an educational ethic of “utility and pragmatism,” saying also (and…perhaps echoing Cardinal Newman) that “the true idea of a university preserves us from a reductive and distorted vision of humanity.” Education is not, he continued, “an arid communication of subtance, but instead the formation of young people which you [the professors] must undertake and research [“comprendere e ricercare”].” — MOD (x-posted MOJ)